The Bond That Keeps Us Connected
by NightcoreFairy
Summary: Gray had never been happier in his life; he had a loving mate and a stable life, as stable as it could get with being a mage, but soon discovered something shocking, which will leave him wondering what the best course of action is. Is he willing to make the needed sacrifices in order to allow his life to become a better place?


Gray and Natsu had been in a relationship for almost six months now, since last Christmas and had been mates for way longer than that. When they had gotten into a relationship, after years of pining and frustration, Natsu had explained to him the whole 'a dragon's only true mate' ordeal, which had caught him off guard at first, but had quickly warmed up to the idea, taking comfort in it, knowing that he and Natsu would stay together forever.

After that, Gray had asked Natsu to bite him and mark him, to make him completely his and in return, Natsu would become his. After that, Gray could always feel him in the back of his mind, a pleasant presence, their bond soothing and calming. He would always have a tingling feeling of where Natsu was, and if he were to be in danger, he could sense that too, which was extremely helpful, as Natsu seemed to be a magnet for trouble.

Even while in a relationship, things hadn't changed much between them. They still fought on regular basis and insulted each other all the time, yet certain changes were clearly evident. How their touches would linger more onto the other, how they would always be in a close proximity, no matter where they were, how they would spend their days and nights together, out on various dates or cuddled up on the bed together.

Since last Christmas, Gray had been the happiest he ever was, with finally getting the chance to spend the rest of his life alongside the person that he loved and cherished the most, his mate. He believed that as long as he had Natsu by his side, nothing could bring them down, no matter what would happen, they would get through it together, fight it and overcome it, just like they had done so many times in the past, long before they were even together, because that's just how deep their bond was.

Although, for the past two months, he had started feeling really sick, at first only slightly nauseous and some light headaches, but as time rolled on, he had started feeling extremely nauseous to the point of throwing up most of the food he would eat, having cramps, mood swings and being overly sensitive over the smallest thing.

At first, he had thought that it was nothing but the flu, but as things had worsened, he now found himself, after eight weeks since this had started, sitting on a chair inside Porlyusica's infirmary, fidgeting in his seat as he waited for her to return with the results of his checkup.

As he heard the back door being opened, he stood up immediately, cursing inwardly as he swayed a little bit on his feet, feeling dizzy.

"It would be better if you didn't make such hasty movements, boy, considering your condition," she stated strictly, giving him a stern look.

He thickly gulped, wiping his sweaty hands against his jeans, "So, there is something wrong with me? What is it? Am I dying?"

"You will be if you don't shut up and let me finish." She threatened, which made him snap his mouth shut.

"No, you aren't dying," she walked over to him and handed him some papers, "You have been pregnant for almost eight weeks now."

He took the papers in his hands and stared blankly at the front page. "What…what is this?"

She sighed and pointed the odd, black shape in the paper, "This is an ultrasound scan that I did on you and this," her finger shifted towards the tiny, weird, white shape, "this is your baby."

He just kept staring at it, eyes widened and mouth agape.

Is this a joke? Was Porlyusica actually pulling his leg? There was no way that he could be pregnant, it just didn't biologically add up! He was a _male_ , he had no womb, the baby couldn't even get _out_.

"This has to be some mistake, there's no way that this is true," he handed back the papers, which she took whilst sighing, "The last time I checked, I was a _male_ , so, there is no way that this stands. I thought you were an expert."

He grunted as he was hit on the head.

"Never underestimate my abilities, boy, I know fully well what I'm doing, never once have I ever made a mistake." She claimed and lifted her hand, pointing with her index finger at his belly.

"Why do you think your belly is slightly swollen?"

He glanced down, and as she said, his belly was indeed slightly swollen, although barely noticeable.

"I thought that I had just gained some weight because of all the food that I had been eating lately…" he mumbled and placed his hand over his belly.

"You have been having cravings, correct? It is only logical that you have started having them." She turned around, walked towards her desk, opened the top drawer and grabbed a small, white bottle from inside.

"And if what you say is true, then how would this whole thing work? I'm a male, I can't biologically carry a baby, much less give birth to it!" he snapped, throwing his arms in the air.

"Well, originally, no, you wouldn't be able to, but this dragon bond that you have with Natsu, as his mate, actually assisted you in forming a womb— that is the most intriguing thing I have seen in a while."

He felt his chest tighten, breath coming out in pants.

He had a child growing inside of him for eight weeks and he hadn't even known? There were so many times where he could have just gotten a punch to the stomach and the baby would have died.

His eyes widened at the thought. Did he even _want_ the baby? It terrified him, thinking that he will have to go through all that pain and suffering. Could he even bear it? Could he bear eight more months of this? Would he even be a _good_ parent?

"Take these with you in case you want to have an abortion, although I wouldn't recommend it, but make sure that you talk about this with Natsu. You have one more week to decide if you want to keep it or not, so, chose wisely."

He handed him the white bottle and ushered him outside, slamming the door behind him.

One week.

One week to decide if he would keep the baby or not.

She had told him to tell Natsu, but he couldn't bring himself to at the moment, not in the state he was in.

He focused on masking his presence from Natsu, which was also a perk from their bond. While they could feel each other, they could also mask their own presence from the other, resulting to be extremely useful for this situation.

He walked away and headed towards a bar at the outskirts of the town that he often frequented in, heading inside and sitting at his usual spot, at the far corner. A waitress came over and flashed him a smile.

"What would you like to order, sir?"

"Just…just an orange juice would be good," he replied, not bothering to even look at her.

"One orange juice coming right up!"

He couldn't face anybody in the state he was in, if he did, he was sure that he would break down into a sobbing mess. He was surprised that he had remained composed up until now, yet he didn't know for how much longer he could keep this façade up.

He grabbed the bottle out of his pocket and opened the lid, inspecting the pills inside.

If he were to take one right now, all would continue on like they used to be, nobody would notice anything. The only one that would know about this was Porlyusica, but he doubted that she would say something. Maybe she would if she learned that he hadn't actually gone to Natsu to talk about it like she had advised him to.

"Here's your orange juice, enjoy!"

She set the box down on the table and shoved his hand inside his other pocket, taking some coins and handing them to her.

"Thank you!"

As she left, he grabbed the glass of orange juice, taking in a sip.

Would it be wrong to decide to abort and not keep the baby? Is there any chance that his magic would be affected by this? He shivered at the thought of losing his magic power forever, but Porlyusica hadn't told him anything about it, so, he guessed that it wouldn't affect him so negatively.

As soon as Natsu heard about him being pregnant, he would definitely want to keep the baby, which would make it even harder for Gray to abort it, if he were to decide that. He knew how much Natsu adored children and always wanted to have one of his own and that's why sometimes he talked to him about adopting one or two and Gray would find himself agreeing sometimes, but this was an entirely different matter. _He_ would be the one that would have to carry their child for eight more months and finally deliver it.

 _Their child._

The thought kind of warmed him up, as he imagined a tiny bundle of pink hair with dark eyes running around in their house. A small smile formed on his lips as the image played around in his head.

Maybe it wouldn't be as terrible as he imagined it would be after all? He immediately had thought of the bad things that came out of this situation and hadn't even thought about Natsu and their future.

While it was true that, if he were to keep it, these following eight months would be literal hell for him, but knowing that he would have Natsu by his side at all times comforted him. He knew that Natsu would try and do everything in order to make him feel more comfortable and would always come to his rescue whenever he needed him.

So, maybe, just maybe, it wasn't as awful as he first imagined it to be. Maybe he could get through his, for Natsu's sake and his own, for their future and the tiny creature growing inside his belly.

He grabbed the lid, closing the bottle and shoved it inside his pocket.

Maybe…maybe he could do it and become a beautiful family.

"Hey there beautiful, you seem kinda lonely, would you care to let me buy you a drink?"

He glanced up at the man that had appeared in front of him and scowled. "No, thanks, I'm fine."

"Oh, but please, I insist, let me keep you company and get to know each other, you never know how things will lead."

Gray scrunched up his face in disgust as the man came over and grabbed his hand.

He yanked it away and glared at him, "I think it's better if you leave, I don't really want to hurt you, but I will if it means you going away."

"Oh, but come on, darling—"

He snapped as the man moved his hand up his arm and stood up, throwing a pillar of ice straight into his chest, sending him flying backwards.

"You just don't take no for an answer, do you, bastard?"

He sighed heavily and slumped back down into his seat, running a hand through his hair. He leaned forward and placed his head on the table, briefly closing his eyes.

He was so exhausted…he would just relax for five minutes and head back home.

* * *

He snapped his eyes open and shot up, taking in his surroundings. Immense pain spiked through his head and wobbled on his feet, grabbing the edge of the table in front of him for support. His blurry vision gradually cleared and his eyes widened as he saw that he had fallen asleep inside the bar.

"Oh, you are finally awake, I was about to wake you, cause we were closing up."

His head snapped towards the voice and scowled at the waitress.

"What time is it?" he asked and rubbed his eyes.

"Somewhere around ten," she said and continued on wiping the tables.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit—" he ran outside the bar and started heading towards the guild where he could sense Natsu.

Since they had started going out, Natsu had been awfully territorial and possessive over him, but he was informed by Wendy and Gajeel that this was common for dragonslayers, as they, quite literally, had the instincts of dragons, meaning that they wanted to mark their territory, take extra care of their mates and make nests.

Gray could only imagine what was about to come the moment he stepped foot in the guild and there was also this other crucial matter of him being…pregnant. He still couldn't actually comprehend the fact that he was pregnant— nobody had told him that with being mated to a dragonslayer would shift and adapt his body in order to be able to carry a child.

Magic was scary at times.

The guild finally came into view and he thickly gulped as he kept jogging towards it. He had still his presence masked, so, Natsu wouldn't sense him until he reached outside the doors. He thought that perhaps if he were to confront him in the guild, alongside all the others, then Natsu would go a little bit easier on him— that's what he hoped, at least.

He came to a stop right outside the doors and placed his palm against it. He took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.

His eyes widened at the sight he witnessed. Half of the guild was burned down, chairs, tables, walls and floor, they seemed like they had been all engulfed in flames.

 _I get that he was mad, but this is going too far, even for him!_

"Gray!"

Lucy rushed towards him and grasped his shoulders.

"Hey, Lucy, I'm really sorry for worrying you, I can explain—"

"We'll talk about that later— just make sure that you are very careful now."

He cocked his head, "What do you mean? Careful about what—"

He went rigid as he felt the temperature increase drastically. Lucy flinched and immediately fled away, leaving him alone to face his mate who was now standing a few meters away from him.

 _More like a wild beast._

Gray flinched and took a hesitant step back as Natsu started to slowly, in menacing steps, advance forward.

"H-Hey, Natsu, how are you doing? I-I missed you a lot…" he kept taking a step back as Natsu got closer.

"Um, h-honey, would you please just—"

Another step.

"D-Darling, just hear me out—"

Another step.

"B-Babe, please, wait—"

His back hit the wall next to the doors and yelped as a hand was slammed against the wall next to his head.

"Natsu, I can explain, so would you just please let us go somewhere privately and not do this right here, in front of everybody?" he requested, yet Natsu remained silent, eyes hidden behind the pink bangs that had fallen over his face.

Suddenly, he felt pain mixed with pleasure erupt from his neck and realized that Natsu had shoved his face into his neck, sharp teeth sinking into his skin as he was bitten.

Gray moaned and craned his neck, giving Natsu complete access, and allowed him to remain latched onto his neck. He heard a low growl coming from Natsu and felt his knees buckling. If it wasn't for Natsu who had literally pinned him against the wall with his weight, he would have collapsed on his knees.

"You smell like…another..." Natsu hissed as he licked the sore spot on his neck.

"Another? What? But all I did was—" he begun, but snapped his mouth sat as he remembered the man who had smothered himself all over his hand in the bar.

He sighed and lifted his hand, ruffling Natsu's hair, "That was…I was hit on by someone who didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer— I roughed him up good, so, you don't need to worry about that."

Natsu literally purred and leaned more into his touch. Gray scoffed as Natsu started rubbing his face all over him, marking him with his scent.

"Seriously, sometimes I think you are a big cat instead of a dragonslayer— hey, stop that, you idiot!"

Gray swatted his hand away as Natsu pinched his stomach.

"Gray, when did you become so fat?"

He felt like the air had been knocked out of him, choking on his own spit. He coughed and covered his stomach with his hand, turning away. "Shut up, dumbass."

Natsu studied him with that piercing glare, making him squirm a little under his intense gaze.

"Will you stop looking at me like that? It's making me uncomfortable…" he grumbled and bit the inside of his cheek. Then, he grabbed Natsu's hand and moved towards the doors, pushing them open.

"Wait, Gray, what are you doing? You still need to answer a lot of damn questions!" Natsu said, yet didn't pull away and let himself be guided.

"And I will answer whatever you want, but not here, we need to get home, because I also have something else to…" he shook his head and focused his gaze ahead.

He would worry about _that_ when the time arrived.

* * *

"So, where _were_ you all night long yesterday? And why did you hide your presence? Knowing that you were deliberately ignoring me was annoying and scary at the same time— have I done something wrong?"

Gray sighed heavily and averted his eyes, staring at their couch, "No, you didn't do anything wrong, I just needed time to think about something and without realizing it, I had fallen asleep inside the bar I was in."

"Did something happen? It must have been serious for you to react like that," Natsu stepped closer and placed his hand gently on his right cheek, "You can tell me, whatever it is, you know that I'm here for you."

He took a deep, shaky breath and began.

"Do you remember how I have been sick for these past eight weeks?"

Natsu nodded silently and Gray lifted his hand, covering Natsu's own over his cheek.

"Well, yesterday I decided to go to Porlyusica for a checkup, to see if there was something wrong with me…"

Natsu inhaled sharply and tightened his grip. "What is it? Do you…do you have any disease?"

"No, that's not it, I…" He shook his head and glanced down at his belly. He grabbed Natsu's other hand and gently placed it over the bump on his stomach.

"Natsu, I'm…I'm pregnant," he whispered and closed his eyes.

Gray waited for an answer, a sound, anything that would break this tense silence.

"Say something already, you idiot—" He opened his eyes, glancing up, eyes widened as he saw Natsu stare blankly at his stomach, tears rolling down his cheeks.

"H-Hey, why are you crying?" he asked and raised his hand, wiping the tears away.

"B-But…you— you are…pregnant…pregnant with _my_ child…? Mine?" Natsu mumbled and gritted his teeth, trying to hold his tears back.

"Who else's would it be, idiot? Of course it's yours."

He took a step back, caught off guard as Natsu fell down on his knees in front of him and pressed his face against his stomach, hands gripping his hips. He rubbed the side of his face against the tiny swollen area and sobbed, tears rolling down his face like an endless stream.

"My child, my own baby…my beautiful mate is pregnant with _my_ child…" Natsu whispered and planted soft, feathery kisses on his belly, a wobbly grin forming on his lips.

"I love you, Gray…" Natsu glanced up at him, his eyes sparkling as he bit his quivering lip, "I love you so much, so, _so_ much, you have no idea…love you."

Natsu sniffed and pressed his face against his stomach again.

Gray clicked his tongue and combed his hands through Natsu's hair, "Y-You are really such a huge…sap." He stuttered, a small smile forming on his lips as he felt the first tears slide down his cheeks, too.

That night, Natsu slept pressed up against Gray's stomach, limbs tangled, both wrapping themselves in each other's warmth.

That night, Gray dreamed of a fiery bundle of pink hair with dark eyes running around in their house, causing havoc and lighting up their lives.


End file.
